Schaefer to try and put together Hatton vs. Marquez in 2010

>By Sean McDaniel: Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, is going to be working at putting together a mega fight between Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) for later on this year. In an article from Boxing Fanhouse, Schaefer said “I talked with Juan Manuel Marquez. He called me from Mexico City. He’s going to be coming to my office next week, and we’ll be trying to put together his next fight. He really wants Hatton, and so I’ll be talking to Ricky’s people. And maybe both of those guys will do a fight in the fall. That’s what Marquez wants to do.”

Marquez has made no secret recently of his interest in fighting the 31-year-old Hatton. Marquez, 36, even went so far as to not take what would have been a good paying fight against World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan in order to stay free for a potential fight against Hatton.

It’s a big gamble for Marquez, because Hatton hasn’t been saying much to the media about who he definitely will be fighting next. Hatton could for all intents and purposes fight someone altogether different than Marquez, which would obviously be a huge disappointment for Juan because he’s been doing nothing since he was beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in September.

Marquez could effectively lose almost an entire year of his career if the fight with Hatton doesn’t happen and he doesn’t get back in the ring soon. A fight against Hatton is the much better option for Marquez than a bout against Khan. Marquez will be getting a nice payday in the Hatton fight, and will have an excellent chance at beating Hatton.

Marquez would have had an equally good chance at beating Khan as well, but it would have been a tougher fighter because of Khan’s hand speed and also because his trainer Freddie Roach has turned Khan into a runner. Marquez would have likely had to chase Khan around the ring all night long in order to land any significant punches. That won’t be the case with Hatton.

He’ll be right in front of Marquez trying to slug with him and take him out. Marquez does well against this kind of fighter. Hatton’s style of brawling is not unlike many of the Mexican fighters that Marquez has beaten during his 17-year pro career. Hatton’s ability to take punishment is going to be a big question should he take the fight with Marquez. Hatton was stopped in the 2nd round against Manny Pacquiao in May, and was out cold for four minutes on the canvas.

Hatton says he wants to fight a big named opponent for his next fight, someone that is a pound-for-pound fighter or one that has a title. Marquez fits in both categories, although it’s highly unlikely that Hatton would want to melt down to 135 to fight Marquez for his World Boxing Organization lightweight title. As big as Hatton has been looking recently, he’ll have enough problems as it is burning enough fat off to get down to 147.

Hatton can obviously take weight off – he’s proven that again and again in the past. However, Hatton’s performances against Pacquiao and Mayweather leave me to believe that the effort at taking off more and more weight is sapping the energy out of his body, leaving him weight drained in his fights. He looked haggard in his last fight against Pacquiao, with large folds of skin hanging off his face, which are the hallmarks of someone that has taken off a great deal of weight in a short period of time.

Marquez still is perhaps the best option for Hatton to fight if he wants a high visibility opponent. The top light welterweights – Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander and Khan – aren’t well known enough by the casual boxing public in the United States for the fight to be a huge mega fight. If Hatton wants to fight in the UK, then a fight against Khan would be a good option, but it seems that Hatton isn’t ready to face Khan at this time, if at all.

28 Responses to “Schaefer to try and put together Hatton vs. Marquez in 2010”